1

Religious Minority, Education and Separatism in South Thailand

Mr. Diptendu Sarkar
(Research scholar in the department of South & South East Asian Studies, University
of Calcutta, India)

Paper presented at the 12th International Conference on Thai Studies

22-24 April 2014
University of Sydney

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ABSTRACT
In the parlance of the social sciences the phrase minority community usually
denotes a small community of people who live in the particular region and
possess distinct social and cultural tradition or characteristics which mark them
off completely from the other communities living in the same region. Minority
communities can be divided into different categories, one of them is religious
minorities. A religious minority community denotes a community which has
developed on the basis of their allegiance and devotion to a particular religion.
The Muslims living in mainly in Southern Thailand provinces like Satun,
Songkhla, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat constitute such a religious minority
community. Numerically they are next only to the Majority Buddhist in southern
Thailand. It is historically known from the ancient time a conflict between The
Thais and Malays are still prevailing. World War II period, when the exit of the
erstwhile colonial powers brought about vast social and political changes
worldwide which impacted the social political life of the southern Thai Muslims
as well. Consequently ancient conflict between the Thais and Malay Muslims
acquired a new dimension. So we can find that most of the places around the
world minorities are generally under control of oppressive majoritarian rule.
Most of the cases representatives of majoritarians are also getting a chance to
achieve the controlling power of a nation through politics or other way. But
sometimes minorities also try to create a new power structure controlled by
themselves. To achieve it often they have been taken separatist movements after
failing to get that in other different ways. Thailand is also being a part of this
world, so it also happens in the case of Malay Muslims in Southern Thailand.
In my paper, titled Religious Minority, Education and Separatism in
South Thailand in the beginning of this paper I want to discuss the Islamic
education system in general, along with the government run education system
which prevailing also in southern Thailand. The second part deals with the
structure of the Islamic based educational curriculum in Southern Thailand, the
different kind of schools operating there as well as an analysis of the number of
students in the five Muslim - majority areas like Satun, Songkhla, Pattani, Yala
and Narathiwat. It shows that the large number of students enrolled in the
schools based on the Islamic religion and culture, which is called Pondok is due
to religious conservatism and language problems. The Islamic Private Schools
sponsored by the Thai government, teach apart from religious topics, science,
mathematics and other modern subjects through the Thai Language, while the
Pondoks, on the other hand, teach only religious based subjects through the
Jawi or Arabic language. To the local Muslim communities, their Jawai language
is an insignia of their Malay identity and this explains their strong predilection
for religious education through the medium of Jawai provided by the Pondokss
and their tendency of non acceptance of the Islamic private schools. In the later
part of the paper through pedagogies and the text I tried to discuss the teaching
methods used in the southern Thai schools and the secondary elements of their

3
methods. I have dealt at some length with the Koran and Hadith based text
books used in imparting religious education. The influence of the Islamic
teachers or Tokgurus (as they are called) on society, culture and politics will
also be examined here. Thai government officials and some security analysts
oftenlty mentioned that Islamic schools are somehow spawning militants and
perpetuating endemic violence- have not been followed by careful study of the
ideas and ideologies these schools are supposedly propounding and instilling. So
the Thai central government had taken various measures to upgrade the Pondok
based education system in South Thailand through the introduction of 2 hours
religious education with other modern subjects like mathematics and science
and compulsory of performing religious practices in every week in southern
province schools. In that process a series of text books also published by the
ministry of education. The Muslim minority did not take kindly to the central
governments initiative to spread education among the Malay Muslims by
running Thai language based government schools and at the same time
completely bypassing the Jwai language and the Pondok based religious
institutions and education system.
The Southern Malay Muslims attach a great deal of importance to the
Jawai language, Islam and Malay culture as the basis of this separate identity and
consider themselves completely separate from the Thais. Therefore it is not
very easy for them to renounce this language. Instead, the southern Muslim
views the different endeavor of the Thai Buddhist central government as a
manifestation of intra state colonialism and onslaughts on their religion and
ethnic identity. Consequently they did not hesitate to revolt take to the
insurgency against the central government. The upshot of the conflict has been
that the central government has not yet conceded the southern Muslims long
standing demand for regional autonomy. Thus the southern Muslims
communities are even today ruled by non Muslim administrators appointed by
the central government who have hardly any proper conception of local society,
culture and language. There has hardly been any serious effort on the part of the
central government to improve the economy of that region or enhance selfsufficiency. As a result a widening gap has increasingly emerged between
government action on the one hand and local demands and aspirations on the
other. Before conclusion I have taken an effort to analyze the influence and
involvement of education and its instructors, on the activities of the local
political movements and specifically on the separatist groups and in Southern
Thailand. Through this work I want to show that the imprudent minority
separatist movement never can bring their cherished goal of autonomy without
the co-operation with the Thai mainstream Government. On the other hand use
of power by the central Thai government never will bring peace in that region
and will also jeopardize the yearlong effort of assimilation. In my opinion
bilateral peaceful political solution through dialogue is perhaps the only final
resort to solve the conflict.

Religious Minority, Education and Separatism in South Thailand

In the parlance of the social sciences the phrase minority community
usually denotes a small community of people who live in the particular region and
possess distinct social and cultural tradition or characteristics which mark them off
completely from the other communities living in the same region. Minority
communities can be divided into different categories, one of them is religious
minorities. A religious minority community denotes a community which has
developed on the basis of their allegiance and devotion to a particular religion. The
Muslims living in mainly in Southern Thailand provinces like Satun, Songkhla,
Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat constitute such a religious minority community.
Numerically they are next only to the Majority Buddhist in southern Thailand. It is
historically known from the ancient time a conflict between The Thais and Malays
are still prevailing about the right of that area. World War II period, when the exit of
the erstwhile colonial powers brought about vast social and political changes
worldwide which impacted the social political life of the southern Thai Muslims as
well. Consequently ancient conflict between the Thais and Malay Muslims acquired a
new dimension. So we can find that most of the places around the world minorities
are generally under control of oppressive majoritarian rule. Most of the cases
representatives of majoritarians are also getting a chance to achieve the controlling
power of a nation through politics or other way. But sometimes minorities also try to
create a new power structure controlled by themselves. To achieve it often they have
been taken separatist movements after failing to get that in other different ways.
Thailand is also being a part of this world, so it also happens in the case of Malay
Muslims in Southern Thailand.
The traditional Siamese education system basically consisted of
instruction in reading, writing, and religion (Buddhism) offered to all males. Certain
elements of classical Indian traditions such as literature, poetry, Pali and Sanskrit
were also taught at the higher levels. The instruction in most cases took place in the
Buddhist monasteries and Buddhist monks served as teachers. At this time teaching
was confined to the Buddhist monasteries, not only females but non Buddhist
minorities also in the society had no access to this type of education. So females
received education at home from the elders, with training in household management
tricks. The non- Buddhists groups generally received basic education in their own
communities. It was recorded in history that the traditional Malay educational system
among the Malay communities in the Southern Thai areas was quite parallel to that of
the Siamese in terms of its instructional methods and organization, but was
completely different in terms of its content and medium of instruction.1 Prior to the
prevailing pondock system in the Malay world, Malay educational system consisted
of instruction in reading (Malay & Arabic), writing (Malay/ Arabic), and religion
(Islam), that is memorizing of the Quran. But Bhasa Tempatan or Jwai which is the
local language of southern Thai Malay dominated province was accepted as the main
language through which Islam is taught from the elementary level. Arabic was
utilized as the medium of instruction at the secondary level of the Pondok system.
In general Islamic education has had two overarching objectives at its core:
transmission of the Islamic heritage and values on the one hand, and the spiritual,
moral and ethical transformation and advancement of Muslim societies on the other.
But this long cherished traditional role of Islamic education has, however, come
under immense pressure and scrutiny in this modern age of development,
globalization, and the nation state. Thec same challenge is emerge in the southern

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Thailand also. Along with the other parts of the Muslim world, in Thailand also the
Muslim community, it is believed, run their religious life in traditionalist than
reformist ways. But it is held by the Muslim theologists and elite that in the early
age of Islamisation Southern Thailand Malay Muslims were more familiar with
Traditionalist ways than the reformist ones. So traditionalist Islam in Southern
Thailand refers to the syncretic belief system that marries the Islamic creed with
indigenous cultural beliefs and practices that were carried over from the pre-Islamic
era of South East Asian history. This syncretism underscores the brand of Sufi Islam
commonly found across Islamic South East Asia including Southern Thailand, and
specifically in the Pattani region, even today. 2 So when we discuss the history of
education of Southern Thailand we must consider the historical Patani kingdom,
which consisted of the present day southern Thai provinces of Patani, Yala and
Narathiwat. From historical evidence it is clear to us that in the 16th and 17th
centuries of the Ayutthaya era Persian merchants brought Shia Islam to Thailand
through trading relations. During this period Persian Muslims also served as ministers
in the court of Ayutthaya. This community was also managing Ayutthayan trade and
even the navy. These Persian Muslims who were mainly concentrated in the northern
cosmopolitan areas of Thailand played an influential role in trade, commerce and
bureaucracy of Ayutthayan kingdom. In different places of northern part of Thailand,
Bangkok, Ayutthaya and Nakhon si Thammarat of South Thailand also some
archeological evidence has been found and such evidence undoubtedly proves that
the Thais had age - old connection with Persia. From the 13th century Islam was also
establishing its strong foothold in the Malay world. In that period Patani was a
tributary of Ayutthaya, so they enjoyed a considerable autonomy and owing to its
geographical location it received more influence from the Malay world than the
Siamese. So from the 13th century, Patani had enjoyed a stronger kind of bonding,
based on Islamization, with the northern Malay sultanate of Kedah, Kelantan and
Trengganu, than with the northern intimate neighbors like Siam or present Thailand.
Between 15th and 18th centuries Patani also flourished as a center of trade and
commerce; but more specially the brilliance of its Islamic polity ( Dar Al- Islam) was
acknowledged all over the world. Patani also emerged as a center of Islamic studies in
South East Asia. As we have clearly shown, according to some historical evidence
Islam was already present in South Thailand Patani area, earlier than the thirteen
century and certainly prior to the reigning time of King Ramkhamhaeng (12791298). It was possible due to the close connection between Arabia, the heartland of
Islam, and South East Asia, which by that time was served by Pattani as its trading
center. 3 So before the advent in the Malay Peninsula of the western powers, the
Pattani region was already producing so many good Islamic scholars with their
scholarly theological writings and translations of the original Arabian works from
Arabic into the Malay language in Jawai scripts, for the local Malay people of that
region. Thus from the middle of the18th century and early nineteenth century, Pttani
truly deserved the title of a Cradle of Islam in South East Asia.4 The traditionalist
Islamic institutions like Pondoks are playing a great role in the transmission of
knowledge from one generation to the next and also in the dissemination of
instruction through education to save the religion. From the time of the spread of
Islam into present Southern Thailand region, Islamic schools known as Pondok.
Those schools in southern Thailand flourished, especially in Patani region, and
acquired an integral role in the Malay Muslim society of the southern provinces of
Thailand till today. These Pondoks also perform as the key provider of religious
instructions throughout the Malay Muslims society in that region. For these reasons

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Pondoks in South Thailand are closely associated with the Malay Muslim identity and
often act as the center of gravity in everyday Malay social life. Beyond that Pondok
are also important repositories for and progenitors of Malay language, history and
culture. From the 19th century onwards the kingdom of Patani had become a
prominent regional centre of Islamic learning renowned for its religious teachers and
scholars. By the early 20th century when a re-awakening of religious consciousness
was underway across the Muslim World, the Patani region had the largest number of
Masjid based Islamic schools, popularly known as Pondok, in South East Asian
Malay peninsula.5 From that time in this region a reformist ideology was also
gaining a foot hold. Reformist Islam can be conceptualized on two levels. In terms of
pedagogy, it refers simply to move to reform and change prevailing ways of
knowledge transmission. After that religious ideological reform in that region, the
traditional educational system was also urged to change itself. Salafism and
Whahabism were the basic ideological and intellectual pillars of Islamic reform
movement in Thailand. The Thai Islamic reformists were opposed to Islamic
orthodoxy. So reformist Islam in Thailand, in spite of its total rejection of modernity,
seeks to understand and embrace modernity by arguing the premise modern
knowledge in explainable Islamic terms. It should be noted that this type of reform is
explicitly Salafi in nature in that the return to the Quran and Sunnah accords in
some respects with the Salafi practice of avoiding scientific rationalism and adopting
faith and religion as the point of entry to the pursuit of understanding.6 This Islamic
reform movement came to South Thailand in the late 19th century under the leadership
of Muammad Abduh from Bangkok. Who was the follower of Ahmad Wahab, who
was associated with Indonesian reformist Islamic group called, Muhammadiyah. He
established Ansorisunnah, Thailands first reformist organization in the Taman Tok
area of Bangkok and later he managed to spread his influence among the Thai middle
class Muslims and migrant Pakistani Muslim workers. In 1967 inspired by him reform
- minded Muslim youths formed Young Muslim Association of Thailand. These
reformists rejected the uncritical acceptance of prevailing religious authority and
textual sources. They tried to persuade convinced the Muslim people to accept the
true and the authentic after proper judgement on the basis of Tauhid, the oneness of
God, the foundation of all knowledge. They also translated Quran into Thai and
Malay. So from that time along with the mosque based Pondoks, Islamic Private
schools were also come up in the Patani region. These Pondoks and Islamic Private
Schools helped to build a distinct and rich Islamic theological base for Patani. So
Muslim students from both the archipelago and mainland South East Asia would
sojourn to any of the several hundred Pondok schools here, before moving on to the
Middle East and North Africa for further Islamic education.7 Patanis reputation as a
regional centre par excellence of Islamic education may have eroded over the
decades, yet its historical legacy continues to inform the identity of the Malay
Muslim population in the southern provinces. 8 But in southern Thailand the
traditional religious elite did not easily accept that reform wave as they considered it
as a challenge to their authority and status inside the Muslim community of Thailand.
So sometimes these tradionalist Muslim leaders also support the Thai states policy of
oppression against the reformist activities in southern Thailand to keep intact their
authority in that region.
We stated earlier that along with the other parts of the Muslim world, in
Thailand also the Muslim community is generally believed to run their religious life
in traditionalist ways. Among the traditionalist Muslims in Thailand, as elsewhere
in the Muslim world, religion is the central pillar of all educational systems. So

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Muslims in Thailand also generally begin their education through the recitation of the
Quran at home. But in recent days Sekolah Anubahn, Raudha and Tadika (preprimary and primary schools) have been established in mosques to take over the role
of early religious education of Muslim children in South Thailand. These Tadika
schools are run by mosques generally in their prayer halls. These schools are found
throughout the five Muslim dominated provinces of southern Thailand. In these
mosques run schools children of three to sixteen years of age are admitted. After
completing early religious studies in these schools, students in general, sixteen and
above, are registered in nearby Pondoks. These Pondoks provide exclusively religious
studies with elementary Mathametics. But nowadays in south Thailand Muslim
students are also admitted into government schools, where also teach science,
mathematics and other modern subjects, apart from religious subjects. Tadikas
usually operate during evening or during weekends and have no standard curriculum.
Its curriculum generally depends upon the sponsors of the school and teachers. As
most of the teachers of these Tadikas are respected religious leaders or ex students of
traditional Pondoks, school curriculum is always based on the basis of Quran and
Hadith.
When some part of Southeast Asia first converted to the Islam, the traditional
Hindu & Buddhist influenced culture and institutions called Ashram also remained
intact there. So they had to undergo a process of transformation and be given Islamic
characters, in accordance with the Middle East, the traditional land of Islam. it was
given the Arabic name of Fondok (meaning of this word hotel, motel or lodging).
But the Arabic alphabet Fa is universally pronounced by the Malays as p, so it's
called Pondok9. But those institutions were often established by Muslim scholars
who returned from the pilgrimage to Mecca and also spent time for learning in the
Middle Eastern institutions. Considering the fact that there was that elective affinity
between Islam and the higher and ancient culture of southeast Asia in all areas, it is
very likely that both the hostels and earlier ashram type institutions can be accepted as
a foundation of the traditional Islamic education known as Pondok system. The role
of the sage (kijaji) and their conclaves of the ashram were long valued in the Indicculture; the Muslim missionaries merely adopted them as their own and gave them
Arabic titles. Thus the sage became the alim and the ashram or religious hostel
became Pondok. Pondoks were turned into the most popular symbol of the Islamic
education system in southern Thailand. So we can show it as a very good example of
cultural accommodation or acculturation that takes place when two cultures come into
contact with each other.10
. The curricular of Pondok schools revolves solely around religious education
academic and vocational subjects are not part of it. Islamic studies conducted by
Pondoks can be broadly categorized into three streams: Taubid (oneness of God;
divinity/theology), Sharia (Islamic way of life) Fiqh (Islamic law), Usualal- Fiqh
(Jurisprudence), and Akhlak (ethics). Beyond these topics the curriculum also
includes Tarikh (which consists of Islamic history & local history), Nahwi and Saraf
(Arabic language, grammar and conjugation), Tasauwuf (mysticism) and Falak
(Astronomy). In Hassan Madmarans openion the methodology of Pondok education
in Southern Thailand was and is similar to the widely recognized system of the
intellectual learning process which was popular among the institutions of medieval
Islam.11 In short it can be said that Pondock pedagogy essentially centres on rote
learning, recitation and memory. Typically, a Tok Guru expounds religious texts and
scriptures while students transcribe copious notes and memorize lessons.

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The religious leaders who guide and instruct in the Pondok are called
Tokhru or Tok Guru in the vernacular and assume the responsibility of
instructing and purifying the beliefs and practices of Islam as their social obligation,
above and beyond their personal obligation to observe the Islamic precepts. These
teachers also offer religious guidance and spiritual inspiration to individuals and the
wider community in their struggle for the fulfilment of the religious duties.12 No
proper accreditation system exists; it varies solely on the basis of the judgment of the
Tok Guru, who confers a certificate after the student has sufficiently mastered a
particular text or subject. Determination of quality of Pondock mainly depends on the
reputation of the Tok Guru in specific fields of Islamic studies. Some Muslim
students are also seen to move from one Pondok to another, to study under specialists
in specific fields such as Fiqh, Hadtith, Tasfir etc. It had also been noticed that some
students had spent several years in a Pondok to learn a specific subject under the
guidance of a Tok Guru. In this manner students are initiated into the master disciple
relationship which in the system of Islamic education is believed to mirror the close
bonds that existed between the prophet and his companions. Students who fetl more
competent in any of the above mentioned subjects would be considered as students
leaderds or Taliyats and they usually form their own circle of study within their own
Pondok compound under the guidance of the headmaster on the subjects of their
choice, which are called Halqa. These heads of Taliyat later leave their Pondoks
and continue their religious education in Mecca before going back to their homeland
to set up their own Pondoks.
At the time of King Chulalongkorn (Rama the fifth) from 1908 A.D. the Siamese
government had taken various measures to modernize the country. As part of king
Chulalongkorns policies to transform his kingdom into a modern nation state with
westernized bureaucracy, a modern education system was created in Thailand at the
end of the 19th century. But it was astonishing that the unique position of Pondoks in
Malay society, as a bridge between Islam and society, was totally ignored in the new
process of modernization. Instated of honouring the Malay expectations, that their
religion based educational system should be considered with care, in that process of
modernization the government was adopted new educational programs by totally
ignoring the Muslims. So in this new educational program the Muslim scholars and
religious leaders were never involved but the Buddhist monks continued to play an
important role in both the instructions and the provision of educational facilities, also
in the provinces of the south where the Muslims are the majority. So in the view of
Muslim leaders of South Thailand that if the Thai central government was really
determined to integrate the sizeable Malay Muslim population of the greater Patani
region in the Thai state, they should have reminded of the sacred position of the
Pondok in Malay society. The government should have treated with care the Pondok
and their Tok Gurus from the time of the beginning of the modernization process in
Thailand. In other words if the educational changes were more concerned with the
developments of the nation, the Thai central government should have built up a cadre
of educated officials and administrators to create an efficient bureaucratic service
upon which the modern state was to be built. Secondly, the contents of the existing
education ought to have been restructured so as to facilitate the integration of ethnic
minorities into a coherent and capacious Siamese national identity. 13 Instead the
government gave more attention to transforming those religious-educational
institutions into a semi-secular establishment where modern education is offered
alongside religious instruction; vocational training replaces religious devotional
practices and mysticism.14 As the Thai law makers were especially concerned about

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the Pondok in Malay Muslim Southern provinces, they believed that those religious
schools did not offer academic courses, so they did not contribute positively anything
to national development.15 So the government tried to introduce in the schools of the
southern province two hours of religious education with other modern subjects and
weekly compulsory religious practices in every schools. In that process a series of text
books was also published by ministry of education. Those efforts aimed at
transformation of the existing Pondok based educational system in Southern
Thailand were not accepted by the Malay Muslim community, as they saw in these
efforts a direct threat to impose Thai values on the cultural and religious identity of
the Malay Muslims. So they initiated active resistance from that period which has not
ceased even today.
In 1910, king, Wachiravut (Rama vi) ascended to the Thai throne. He was too
much of a nationalist in his approach and was educated in London. So he adopted the
English patriotic notion of God King & Country and transformed that into a Thai
symbol; of Nation, Religion and King. Driving by his nationalistic fervour, he was
taking too many measures in the administrative field as well as in education. In this
process all over the country one language education system was introduced. But the
religious and ethnic minorities didnt easily accept it. They feared that they would be
treated to second class citizens by the introduction of compulsory Thai education. So
the local resistance movement was widespread in the reign of King Wachiravut,
especially in the Malay Muslim dominated Southern provinces. The Malay Muslims
felt that their language, religion and other cultural values had come under attack from
the dominated ethnic majority Buddhist Thai, whom they considered as Kafir (non
believers). So the Malays in the southern part felt that the Siamese government was
trying to stamp out the hated Malay language and change the natural status of the
rising generation of Malays to Siamese. Malay ethnic leaders viewed its a process of
political & cultural incorporation or invasion procedure of the central Buddhist Thai
government and this feeling made the Malays in the south raised the banner of
resistance both passively and actively against the efforts of the Siamese government
to enforce the provisions of the modern so called secular education in the Southern
region. But it should be noticed that we are yet to find any clear evidence to show that
the Malays Muslims in Southern Thailand had reacted directly against the
introduction of modern education system in Thailand, except for their passive
resistance expressed by their refusal to send their children to the schools where Thai
language is used as the main language of instructions. So from this we can say that
this type of attitude of the Malay Muslims is nothing but a reaction against the
Siamese control; which has completely prevailed over their territory since the 18th
century.
Malay Sultanate states adjacent to the border of Southern Thailand
increasingly under the direct control of the Siamese officials along with the central
administrative structural changes in Bangkok in early twentieth century. Thus after
the completion of administrative procedures of assimilation of those Malay vassal
states into a province of Thailand, the central Thai government was treating them in
the same way that they treated the rest of the country. In 1922 under king Wachiravut
the Thai central government had launched a forceful drive to introduce Thai language
based secular education in the greater Pattani region. In this enterprise the Thai
government wanted to introduce a central model of education in the southern border
province schools. Through it they wanted to spread the Siamese history and language
among the local Malay people. But the local Malays offered stiff opposition to that

10
move of the central government as they felt that this amounted to internal colonialism
practiced by the Thai Buddhist government against the Muslim Malays.
Siam shifted to constitutional monarchy from absolute monarchy through the
1932 revolution. After that revolution began a constitutional regime in that country.
The new government placed emphasis on freedom and equality of every citizen of the
country without any kind of discrimination. So every citizen could get equal access to
power and equal opportunity to participate in the process of self government. The new
Thai government was trying to implement those constitutional changes as their main
aim was to help all the people of Thailand to enjoy the fruits of national
modernization.
The first prime minister of that new government was Phraya Manopakorn
Nititada who looks the initiative to unify the country so to pursue unification process
the new government felt the urgency of spreading compulsory education throughout
Thailand by Thai language. So a new National Education system was proclaimed in
March 1932. Through that education policy the Thai central government intended to
incorporate all religious and ethnic groups in the nation into the new political system.
Its aim is also clear to us if we review some parts of the new government decree
carefully:

The state has the right to provide education to the people and the power to
supervise education in government schools, local schools and private schools.
Compulsory education is the study which the government imposes upon every
child without distinction of sex, nationality, and religion by virtue of the primary
education Act of 1921.
The person who has completed compulsory education is considered to have the
knowledge which a Siamese citizen should have, that is to say, he or she is a
citizen who is able to earn his/her living he or she knows the rights and duties of
the citizen, he or she will prove her/himself to be useful to the country by means
of the chosen occupation.16
Thus the new government placed an emphasis on freedom and equality.
But that education plan was not completely successful all over the country. Hence,
under the next Prime Minister, Colonel Phraya Phahon Phonphayuhasena (March
1936), another National Education Plan, was proclaimed. But this plan too, was not
free from the blame of politicization of education and its organization. If anything, the
new plan indicated even a higher degree of political incorporation than earlier. It
stated:

The Government has the authority to control the institutions to administer

examinations to the teachers and award them diplomas, to administer examinations to
students on the completion of Primary General Education, Junior Secondary
Education and Senior Secondary Education.17
In time Muslim resistance to the governments initiatives compelled the latter
to modify its policy somewhat. The government now permitted Muslims studying in
Islamic Private schools to attend additional classless in Pondoks in the evening or
over the weekend for religious institutions. But they did not give up their main
intention of building national uniformity among the heterogeneous ethnic groups of
the nation, through the use of education. So, if we analyze those declarations of the
National Education System above, we can find that they mainly emphasize on the
transmission of Siamese national history and the teaching of the National Symbols
and Thai as the national language. In order to boost these procedures the ministry of
Education also published various text books for government schools. Those books did

11
not accommodate any other language, religion or History except Siamese. But some
efforts were also made to encourage Malay education and speed up the education
process. There has been an official effort to familiarize the Malay children with
Siamese orthography by using Siamese characters for Malay language. Translation of
the Siamese text books into Malay has been done at the Regional General Education
Development Centre in Yala.18
Despite these government efforts to provide free and compulsory education to
the Malay Muslims along with other citizen of Thailand, it has been proved from
various other sources as well as some government official reports that the percentage
of enrolment of school going children in south Thailand was much lower than in the
other regions of Thailand. It was about 40 percent of the whole Muslim population of
southern Thailand in 1937 AD. The government report of that year shows that the
Pattani region had 83government schools, 177 teachers and 8326 students were
enrolled. But the percentage or number of Muslim students among them had not been
clearly mentioned in that report. On the basis of census report, however it is clear to
us that the majority of the population in the Pattani region practice the Muslim
religion. So we can assume that most of the school children enrolled in government
schools came from Malay Muslim families. This reluctance among the Malay
Muslims to send their children to Government schools had also been noticed by a
Thai inspector of schools in that region who mentioned it in his report. In his report he
also tries to find the reasons behind that situation. In his view:
1. Generally Malay adults object to give their wards an education based
purely on the Siamese language, as Siamese is not their own language. So
they treat it as a foreign language.
2. The Malay Muslim is also concerned that in the Siamese language those
are no room to learn Mohammedanisim. So they fear their children will be
attracted towards Buddhism.
3. The Muslim guardians also object to having their ward study for three
years under government patronage, as they fail to learn well neitheir
Malay or Siamese.19
So it may be said that Malay resistance to modern education actually was their
reaction against the possible internal Siamese colonization of their culture, religion,
language and heritage through the implementation of modern educational system
based on Thai, in that region.
After the fall of first democratic government of 1932, from the time of Phibul
Songhkrams militant nationalist regime, 1938, those procedures of assimilation
became more powerful than earlier. He also introduced civic law in the southern part
by abolishing Islamic law pertaining to Malay Muslim marriage and inheritance,
banned Malay attire and forced the southern Muslims to wear western style clothes
along with the other parts of the country and it was mandatory for the Malay people to
adopt a Thai name. After all this many Malay Muslims raised considerable objection
to their moves, so some of them were arrested as internal-kingdom rebel for
violation of government rules.
From the beginning of Second World War Thailand was in favour of the axis
power; so Japan gifted Thailand northern states of Malaya like Kedah, Perlis,
Kelantan and Trengganu after its invasion and occupation of that region. After
complete gaining back the administrative power over those Malay states, the Thai
government first abolished the post of Muslim Judges or Qadhi and Muslim laws of
those states. Now Malay Muslims felt that their language, religion and cultural
traditions were in danger. So the Muslim member of the Thai parliament from

12
Nrathiwat province who had raised his voice against the forced assimilation process
was taken into custody by the provincial administrator of those areas.
In 1945 after the end of the Second World War all over the world emerged the
spirit of nationalism and the colonized South East Asian countries also experienced
this trend. The Malays in Malaya were united against British colonial rule in their
country. Indonesia was proclaiming their revolt against Dutch and Indo China
against the French colonialists. Those movements also fuelled the anti - Siamese
movement in the southern Siam. Muslim Malays hoped after the war that, Siam
should be treated as a defeated belligerent nation by the British and that Pattani,
Narathiwat, Yala, and Satun would consequently be annexed to British Malaya. But it
was astonished the people of Southern Malaya that the Thai administration had
anyhow persuaded the British government not to do so, in spite of the petition by the
seven Malayan leaders of that region to British Secretary of state for the colonies.
Thus after the War (1939-1945) the Thai government felt the need to make some
conciliatory moves to appease the Malay Muslim population in the south. They
declared for first time a series of policies known as The Patronage of Islam Act of
1945 as the first official act of the Thai government to bridge the gap between the
central authorities in Bangkok and the local Muslim community in Thailand. Through
this process the mosque council (ulama), the madrasa and the office of the Shaikh al
Islam (Chularajamantri) were integrated into the states officialdom. 20 After that
reform Chularajomantri was now elected by the presidents of the 29 provincial
Islamic committees (Which together construct the Provincial Council of Islamic
Affairs) and 36 members of the National Council of Islamic Affairs, housed at the
Islamic Centre. This post is always endorsed by the king in his decree. For the first
time after the incorporation of southern part in Thai territory in 1902, Malay Muslim
were officially described as The Thai people who professed Islam or Thai Islam
or Thai Muslim which replaced the earlier reference to them as khake(darkskinned visitors), Malayu or Mohammedans in the official records. This was the
brainchild of the well known 1932 constitutional revolution ideologue Pridi
Banomyong and Cham Phromyoung, the Muslim senator from Bangkok who stressed
the need to make a political move to weaken the separatist movement under the
leadership of the traditional elite families of Patani like Tengku Mahyiddin and
Tengku Abdul Jalal. But it is evident that from that time usual terminology such as
The Thai people who professed Islam or Thai Islam or Thai Muslim which
clubbed together all the Thai Muslim communities including those even from the five
southern provinces were into acceptable to the Malay Muslims who rejected outright
terminologies and labels which failed to do justice to this distinct ethnic Malay
identity and tended to subsume it under a swapping vague general rubric.
In 1946 after the change of regime in Bangkok, in the time of the primeminister ship of Dr. Pridi Banomyong, the situation of Malayan states in Southern
Thailand improved but slightly for his sympathetic attitudes towards Malay Muslims.
The new government restored to the Malay Muslims some of their abolished
privileges relating to family and inheritance of property earlier abolished by Phibul.
The new government also set up a commission in response to petition by Malayan
leaders headed by Haji Slong21 to assess their situation. But the Malay leaders main
dream of making Patani an autonomous Malay region remained unfulfilled.
In 1949 Phibul again returned to power in Thailand through a military coup
dtat. Phibul was taking all measures to create the nation as a supreme entity, to
which all individuals living in Thailand must offer their total allegiance to nation. In
his view a Thai citizen had to be Thai speaking, and he/she must follow Buddhist

13
living hood, and imbibe cultural mandates and mannerisms based on the Buddhist
religion. That process of making Thai speaking Buddhist was also introduced
among all minority groups living on Thai territory. 22 It aroused fears of a second term
of oppression among the Malays of Southern Thailand, so they urged the British
Government not to recognize the new government and help them to secede from
Thailand. But the British paid no heed to this plea, yet the lot of the Muslims was now
improving, albeit slowly compared to the earlier Phibul regime. For example, the
position of the Muslim judge was restored and Friday was declared an official holiday
in those provinces again. But Phibul had forced all schools in the south to adopt
Buddhist ethics. So the antipathy towards the Thai central Government among the
Muslim-Malays was not completely removed. The Malay Muslim leaders were
preparing to start an anti- government agitation. But to nip it in the bud, Malay leader
Haji Sulong was arrested on 16th January 1948 by the Thai Military police from
Pattani. This incident triggered an uprising which spread to different districts of
Pattani, Yala & Narathiwat provinces. A number of Muslim guerrillas were battling
with the Thai police in early April at the village of Dusun Mayor in Ra-ngae district
of Narathiwat. It was a notable example of Muslim resistance. After that incident the
Thai government feared for more severe Malay outbreaks of violence in the southern
provinces and declared a state of emergency in September 1948.
Haji Sulong was denied bail by Thai judiciary and kept him imprisoned.
The Malay movement in southern province was in a flux as different extremist
fractional groups. In different parts of Malaya and Singapore also strong protests were
launched by the Malay people. Meanwhile the situation in southern Thailand
deteriorated and different civil liberties organizations of Malaya unitedly urged the
U.N. to investigate the matter as early as possible. Along with these organisations,
different Malay political parties like Malay Nationalist Party (M.N.P) and United
Malay Nationalist Organization (U.N.M.O.) openly protested against the ill treatment
of Thai Muslims by Bangkok, in the name of assimilation. As a result of it the Thai
government was forced to introduce some reforms in southern regions in end of 1948.
For example complete freedom of worship was guaranteed; transfer of corrupt Thai
officials, and appointment of respected Muslim Malays as advisors to the central
government followed. Along with this an order was also passed to teach the Malay
language from the primary stage in the southern regional schools. In the same year
Phibuls government invited the Muslim leaders of Satun, Che Abdullah Wangputeh
to join the cabinet as a deputy education minister. A committee was also formed,
headed by Che Abdullah Wangputeh, to investigate the problems of the four southern
provinces. But this was considered by the people of the southern region as only an eye
wash for the Malay Muslims because they were deprived almost all this political
powers, as because Malay Muslims were experienced after the introduction under the
more centralized administrative system introduced by Phibul. Almost all the positions
in the provincial administrative structure were gradually filled by Buddhist Siamese
officials through the introduction of universal recruiting rules. But most of the
Malay Muslims were not qualified enough to acquire a bureaucratic job. So they were
mostly deprived of those posts after introduction of universal recruiting policy .
Consequently the system was regarded by them as the deliberate introduction of a
new system of recruitment, by the Buddhist central government, with a design to
discriminate against them through an unjust competition.
Thai central government first made an effort to take control of those Pondoks
in Thailand promulgating a Private School Act of 1949. In this act it appealed to all
private schools in Thailand to register with the Ministry of Education. But due to

14
religious character, the Pondoks remained outside government control up to the third
edition of that act in 1960.23 In spite of that effort it was not clear from government
data before 1960, how many mosques or other private institutions in Thailand taught
religious studies and on the basis of which pedagogies. After the cease of power by
Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat launched his national development program in the early
1960s and an effort was made by urging all existing Pondok schools to convert into
Private School Teaching Islam. So in 1960 the Thai government made again that
registration procedure compulsory which required disclosure of the pedagogies and
the names of members of the management staff. In return for that complete
information,( if education department was satisfied with their adherence to
Government regulations regarding religious private schools), those schools would be
provided with some government funds to develop their infrastructure. But those
schools must introduce several hours of Siamese language based instruction and
standard curriculum subjects along with religious studies. From government
educational department records it is clear to us that in 1960 the five southern
provinces had 500 Pondok schools. As we have already seen, most of the Malays
Muslim and their religious leaders saw Pondoks as a vital symbol of religious and
educational heritage in their society. When the religious leaders we're convinced the
necessity of teaching modern secular subjects, they also preferred the introduction of
these modern subjects along with religious studies in Pondocks. So they felt that the
Malay Muslims must send their wards to Pondok schools than government schools.
On the other hand the Siamese authority viewed these Pondok schools as a barrier to
the expansion of the national educational system, which only reinforce Malay ethnic
loyalties than the rather allegiance to Thai nation, in the minds of the Muslim
students. Some critics and most of Thai bureaucrats are even now considered that
Islamic schools are somehow spawning militants and perpetuating endemic violence.
So generally Thai Buddhists also regard the Pondoks in the south as hotbeds of
Muslim radicalism and political activism. In the context of Malay Muslim society
Pondoks and their residents constitute a sacred community whose mission is to bring
true Islam to the marginalised in society. 24 In southern Thailand Malay Muslims are
also divided into two main categories in terms of practicing Islam. One is called
abangan where members are considered original Muslims with emphasis on rituals
and practices. Another is called Santri whose members are more knowledgeable
Muslims with an interest in the purity of doctrine. In the context of Malay Muslim
society , the dichotomy is expressed in terms of Orang Jahil ( the people of
ignorance) and Orang alim (people of knowledge). So the Malays believe that the
Tok Guru and their students in pondoks are committed to converting the Orang
Jahil into Orang alim. Their missionary zeal often carries them beyond the bounds
of religion and sometimes also involves them in political activities to consider their
political activities. But on the contrary, government officials feel that such activities
are improper and should be curtailed as Tok Gurus should not cross their
boundaries of teaching.
In 1961 Marshal Sarit Thanarat issued another orders and four southern
border provinces were grouped together to form one administrative unit referred to as
the Educational Region -11. A special research and coordinating centre was
established in Yala with the singular mission of introducing Thai - based secular
curriculum into the southern region in place of the traditional Pondok - based
educational structure. At this time government officials also realized that it was too
expensive to set up a new school and those schools would face stiff resistance from
the Malay community. So they thought it was better to accommodate existing

15
institutions and encourage them to accept gradually necessary changes. As in other
parts of the country, in the southern region of Thailand also exist Primary and
Secondary education in the form of public or private institutions along with Pondoks.
But Pondoks do not fall into any category like private or public. The primary point of
departure between Pondoks, and Islamic private schools is the curriculum. Pondoks
are also privately owned and offer only religion based study program while Islamic
Private Schools offer religious teaching with others modern subjects like mathematics
and science. But it was realized that without the acceptance of secular subjects by the
Pondoks modernization of the education system in the south would never materialize.
So an innovative special category was formed in the name of Rong rian Rasdr Son
Sassna Islam(Private School for Islamic Education) for Pondoks. It was now made a
part of the office of the committee on Private Education within the Ministry of
Education.25 In this special category Pondoks were allowed to remain under private
ownership. Simultaneously if they complied with all government regulations
regarding the methods of study, then they would be eligible to obtain for government
aides.
That initiative of registration drive was persuaded out in full swing by the
government between 1961 to 1966. The fear of direct administrative involvement of
central government in the everyday curriculum of Pondoks and of losing the right to
carry out their religious obligation of teaching and propagating Islam restricted the
Malay Muslim leaders response towards that government initiative. So the Pondoks
participated in a restrained manner in the government run registration drive. As a
result by the end of 1970 only 463 Pondoks were registered their names with the
provincial education authorities. This fell much below expectation of the Thai
government officials. 26 So in 1971 the Thai central government declared that the
voluntary transformation into Private school for Islamic Education was made
compulsory. By another decree Thai language replaced the Malay language and the
traditional religious curriculum was reduced to accommodate the new secular
curriculum. In addition to that the Ministry of Education ordered that Head Masters
of Private Schools must have at least six years of secondary education or M.S-3
equivalent to Grade 10 in the American public school system.27 But in the late 1981
there were only four (4) Tok Gurus among 252 Pondoks in Educational Region -11
who fulfilled the M.S -3 requirements.28
Islam in Thailand has enjoyed a long tradition of syncretism, coexisting with
earlier Hinduistic and Malay religio spiritual and supernatural beliefs and practices.
So after the emergence of the Islamic reform movement in the Malay archipelago
including south Thailand, Salafism and Wahabism gained importance. It is also to be
noticed that in the Malay Muslim society in Southern Thailand there is a close
relationship between the institution of Pondok and their society at large. The students
of Pondoks who are called Dek Pondok serve both social and religious functions
while drawing sustenance from the public. This integral relationship with society &
people served for Pondoks a special, sacred position in the minds of Malay
Muslims. So the Pondoks have become a symbol of Malay ethnicity as elsewhere in
the other Muslim dominated regions of South East Asia. For this close bonding
between Pondoks and society, Malay Muslims in southern Thailand want to carry on
their Pondok based education system as a symbolic struggle to gain recognition for
Muslims in a Buddhist dominated nation. So any attempts on the part of the central
government to change that system are most likely to be regard as a direct attack on the
identity of the Malay people themselves. Naturally, there has been stiff resistance to
the governments efforts to secularize the Pondoks during the last two decades of

16
National Development. It has arisen due to the acute discrepancy between
Government promise and the real work done. The education department promised that
directly after registration each Pondok would be eligible to get government financial
help. But we have already seen that financial support could be delivered only when all
the government requirements were fully met by the Pondok authority. To obey the
government norms Pondoks were forced to recruit some non - believers (Buddhist)
from regions other than south, to teach Thai in their sacred institutions. On the other
hand, the government had forced the Pondoks to introduce nationwide applied
curriculum of ethics and morality, which was based more on the Buddhist religion
rather than Islam to create a Thai national identity among Malay Muslims in South
Thailand. To the central government, teaching the Malay students Thai cultural values
was a logical extension of the Thai language and contributed directly to the national
integration process. Rather than attempting to accommodate the religious and cultural
differences of the Malay minority, they deemed it necessary to bring it into the
national mainstream.29
After the implementation of the national education system in the most of the
government supervised Pondoks in Thailand began to produce a new group of Malay
Muslim graduates whose loyalty to and identity with the nation had already been
cultivated. But as they were coming from a totally different socio cultural
background, they were not very well prepared, like the students coming from the
completely secular schools in Thailand, for further higher education. Consequently
the graduates of the Pondoks were not doing well in the nationwide annual university
entrance examinations. So, for them further advancement would require more training
and study in the nations academies and institutions of higher learning. Thus the Thai
central government unanimously decided on March 10, 1970, that a quota should be
set up to facilitate the easy entrance of the Malay Muslims students in all educational
institutions of higher studies throughout the country. In addition to that central
government also awarded 16 scholarships worth 3000 Bhat to 4 qualified students
from each of the four provinces after they were admitted in the institutions of higher
education following their graduation from Pondoks, through the allotted quota. The
Thai government had taken the initiative to promote those Malay students as these
could be agents of change who could gradually foster the integration process of
their own minority group into the mainstream of the nation.30
But that endeavour was not totally above of criticism as the other minority
groups in Thailand and the Buddhists criticized government for giving Malay Muslim
students special privilege to get higher education and even the some elite section of
tye Muslim society opposed it, considered that this privilege had ushered in
discrimination among the Muslim students also. The Prime Minister M.R. Kukrit
Pramoj in 1976 threatened to scrap the whole scheme of promoting a group of
Muslim students only through that quota. But as he did not remain in power long so
the program remains intact and has been running without interruption till today. The
government wants to maintain a good friendly day to day relation with the people of
the south, so they need to promote a loyal and friendly younger generation among the
Muslim minority. By giving those special privileges to the younger generation they
try to gain the loyalty of the Malay youths, who are more inclined to accept peaceful
co-existence inside the Thai geographical territory by achieving self autonomy than
embrace separatist movements.31
The policy of Pondok conversion by the shake of modernization and
secularization of the education system of the Muslim society in Southern Thailand
and its apparent success has created bitterness among the hardliner fundamentalist

17
Muslim leaders of the South, because they believed that the modernization process is
nothing but a conscious systematic attempt to destroy Malay identity, ethnicity,
linguistic and cultural heritage by the Buddhist non believers. The spread of the
Thai language and the disappearance of the Malay press as a result of the Thai central
government ban have also produced a violent opposition among the Malays.First this
opposition developed under the leadership of Haji Sulong in 1945. He had started a
movement to purify the Islamic faith of Southern Muslims in the 1930s and in his
view this degeneration was happening among Pattani Muslims due to parochial and
stagnant Pondok education system on the one hand and excessive government
interference in Islamic affairs in the other. But it was clear from his writings and
conversations32 that he was in favour of the introduction of modern education system
including subjects like science, geography and Mathematics along the Islamic
religious studies in Southern Thailand, to eradicate the socio religious backwardness
of the Malay Muslims in Pattani. To fulfil his plan he first established Pattanis first
Islamic school in 1933 named Madrasah Al-Maarif Al- Wattaniah Fatani. It was also
seen that to prove this good intentions to improve Malay Muslims socio-economic
condition through education, Prime Minister Phyara Phahol donated a high amount of
money to Haji Sulongs Islamic School building project. But he also strongly opposed
the Thai government plan to introduce new education system through the Thai
language. Like the other Malays he also was considered the Jwai language as an
inalienable feature of the identity of the Malay people which must be protected at any
cost. Along with this Haji Sulong also gained a good number of followers in the
Southern region of Thailand among Muslim communities that helped him to gain a
strong regional political base. On this basis he was elected chairman of Pattani
provincial council. In 1935 the Thai central government closed down the School of
Haji Sulong along with other madrashas in the country suspecting that those Islamic
schools were breeding political opposition against Thai government. But this
suppression triggered a severe reaction among the followers of Haji Sulong and other
Malay Muslim people of the Patani region. So from this time the subdued resistance
movement of Malay Muslims came into the forefront under the leadership of Haji
Sulong. But the Thai central government arrested Haji Sulong and sent him to prison.
This act had turned the peaceful opposition movement of Malay Muslim into a violent
one. He had spent long years in jail, finally eliminated him through a secret
operation, an act which made the other Malay leaders go into exile or confined in fear
to get punishments as like Haji Sulong. But his ideology spread for and inspired the
Malay youths to quit the peaceful political movement. Instead they were now
accepting separatist ways to achieve their goal to protect Malay Muslim identity from
internal colonization of the Thai central government. So from 1950 onwards different
Malay Muslim separatist orginasations were active in Pattani region. In 1960 the
Barisan Revolution National separatist organisation was formed under the
leadership of a religious teacher of Narathiwat, Karim Hassan. That orginasation
directly opposed the government private school regulation act. That opposition also
fostered the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the Muslim world in general, the issue
of Malay Muslims of Patani behave even more politicized and the prospect of more
violence and wider conflict considerably increased. So when the Buddhist oriented,
so-called modern secular curriculum was sought to be imposed by the central
government between 1965 to 1971, it drew widespread anti - government reaction
among the Malay Muslims in Southern Thailand. It was stated in the report of the
Ministry of Education in 1971, that 109 Pondoks in the south had been closed in
protest against the governments direct interference in their daily operations. As we

18
have already discussed, Pondoks fostered the growth of intellectuals in the MalayMuslim community, who played a great role in spreading Islamic education and
religion in that region. These graduates of Pondoks were also giving advice on legal
issues on the basis of Quaranic and Sharia injunctions as they had gained mastery in
those subjects thanks to their training in Pondoks. But when the government took over
the control of Pondoks in Thailand they put more emphasis on the improvement of the
Thai consciousness, which entailed loyalty to the nation, religion (Buddhism) and
the monarchy. Thus the knowledge of Islam was secondary in the curriculum of
government supported Pondoks. The semi secular curriculum in Pondoks lowered the
academic standards of religious studies. So the graduates of non-governmental
religious institutions had no less mastery over the religious subjects than earlier and it
created a sense of alienation from the religious and cultural background among the
students. 33 For the first time, the Muslim community in Southern Thailand
specifically the Pattani region faced the dreaded shortage of truly qualified religious
intellectuals due to the implementation of the new education policy of the government
in the existing Pondoks of that area. Thus arose a dissatisfaction among the Malay
Muslim community about the quality of religious education in the government
controlled Pondoks. This fear and dissatisfaction made the Muslims more inclined to
send their wards to government controlled Islamic Schools in Thailand. But make
them interested to send them abroad for a proper Islamic education, in the countries
like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan and even in the religious institutions of
India. Most of the Malay Muslim students abroad receive financial assistance from
the host country and develop an increased sense of alienation towards the Thai state
among of those young generation Malay Muslims. When Thai students had returned
home after completing Islamic higher studies abroad, they gained higher social
prestige than their local counterparts. These students had gained international contacts
at the time of their stay abroad. This position of the foreign educated Islamic
intellectuals gave them an edge and enabled them to offer a formidable challenge to
the Thai central government. Malay Muslim students abroad, specifically those in the
MiddleEast countries constitute the core of separatist movements and carry out their
activities while staying in abroad for study34. They are one of the most important
channels through which external influence has been brought into the Thai- Malay
ethnic conflict in Southern Thailand. The most convincing appeal they put forth to the
Muslim World it based on the fact that their Malay Muslim identity is being
systematically obliterated by the Thai government in different ways. 35 This
educational issue had also encouraged Muslim intellectuals to support the separatist
movement led by the Pattani United Liberation Organization (PULO) from 1968. On
the other hand, separatist organisations like PULO or Barisan Nasional Pembebasan
Pattani(BNPP or Patani National Liberation Movement) relied mostly on the
Pondoks to build up their strong base in the south by recruiting the students through
the teachers of the Pondoks. Those students of Pondok were religiously strong. In that
process PULO successfully built themselves into the strongest organised separatist
group in South Thailand till to 1990s.
In 1997 Chuan Leekpai, after taking the oath as Prime Minister of Thailand, took
the initiative to find out the loop holes in the prevailing education system. Muslim
community already started to blame the Thai central government that for the short
educational tenure, Students from the Malay Muslim community do not have a good
grasp of Thai or Jwai in government schools. So in the National educational Act of
1999, the Thai central government declared that it was completely responsible for the
provision of nine(9) years compulsory education and twelve(12) years of free

19
education which was differ from the earlier six years system. But after the
introduction of the new system, too, Malay Muslims criticized government as they
were concerned that the new system was forcing the Malay Muslim students to spend
more time in government schools than earlier and it aroused antipathy among the
Muslim students.
In the urban areas of southern Thailand government schools are little bit more
popular than in the villages. But in the villages Malay Muslims are more eager to opt
for Islamic schools than National schools 36 . During my field work too it was
unofficially conceded by the principal of a Government school that in the villages of
southern Thailand Tadika (Islamic form of primary school) is more popular than
government schools, hence attendance in the latter is also poor. But at the same time
my interviews with the local people in the provinces of Nkhon si-Thamarat, Satun,
yala, Narathiwat and Pttani reveal that in the semi urban areas and villages which had
both government schools and Islamic schools, students registered in both types of
schools. The guardians had obviously had felt that without studying new modern
subjects their words not be able to secure in the competitive examinations and get
good job. So they think it better to send their children on week days to government
schools or Islamic Private schools and to Pondoks in evening or over weekends to
acquire instruction in religious studies. But in the villages of southern Thailand this
scenario is completely different. I think this difference is due to economic reasons. As
the villagers are more poor than the urban people, it is hard for them to send their
children to school and easier to send them to work in rice field or take up the kind of
work which help them to earn.37 Most of the Pondoks in Thailand were primarily
dependent on the zakat and waqf of local Muslims. But from 2000AD onwards those
pondoks have began to find out a variety of alternative resources including funding
from foreign Muslim communities and charities. But in government intelligence
reports it is disclosed that these funds were used not only to improve the educational
environment and infrastructure of a pondok but also utilized for the movement against
the government by various south based separatist organizations. With a view to
controlling the inflow of those foreign funds the Thai government felt the need to give
more help to the pondoks than in the past. So on 4th January 2004 Thai parliament
passed a legislation that ensured that every registered pondok would be eligible to get
5million Bhat in an academic year, from government as against 500 pupils. But that
money would be delivered to the foundation which managed that pondok. So from
this time a Pondok was forced to go under the umbrella of a foundation, to get
government aid. On the other hand it was easy on the part of government to keep a tab
on the foundations financial activities.
Lastly I intend to highlight the most important changes which had occurred among the
Malay Muslims in Thailand after the Central governments secularization or
modernization drive to transform the education system. This was the establishment of
co-operation among the various separatist groups whose publicly stated aim was
liberation of the Malay region from Thai rule. From the mid 1970s these independent
separatist groups began to coordinate their activities under one umbrella organization
: The Patani United Liberation Organization (PULO), which, ideological differences
notwithstanding, managed to gain the support of the Communist Party of Thailand
and Communist Party of Malaya, as the common goal of the latters was National
Liberation in the mid seventies.
From historical evidence it is clear to us that in the beginning the leadership of
Pattani was mainly concentrated in the hands of the former ruling class of that area.
So protest was mainly directed to recovering their political autonomy which they used

20
to enjoy earlier after the regions incorporation with the Thai. But due to the effects of
the modernization process and its aftermath the scenario completely changed in
southern Thailand resulting in an acceleration of the violence in the clashes occurring
between the Malays and the government forces. I have explained earlier that the older
leadership of the Malay community of southern Thailand usually consisted of
religious leaders and distant descendants of the former ruling class of Patani. So the
pattern of opposition, in the past decades has become more ideologically oriented and
violent opposition increasingly appeared to be the only decisive way to demonstrate
this rejection of government decision. But after the educational modernization in
southern Thailand the leadership of various organizations of the Malay community
underwent a change and separatist groups led by younger leaders with impressive
academic credentials were getting more popular. According to Thai bureaucratic
analysis these leaders of the younger generation were more dangerous than the earlier
leaders as they methodically organized their organizations and they had a higher
political capability to implement their plan for self rule. In future it could even win
over the Malay Muslims and mobilise the neutral masses in their support. 38
However, if we analyze the incidence of different type of violent conflicts between
1970 to 1985, we can see that the masses of Malay population still remained neutral
and never responded directly to the call of the separatist groups for liberation. But
increasing violence provoked more oppressive measures by government and
economic difficulties due to political and military instability complicated the life of
the common people in southern Thailand. They are living in the midst of changes and
challenges with very big implications for their future as an ethnic group. So they can
either make up their minds or join the movement for change or be dragged into
conflicts helplessly. Lastly I intend to highlight the most important changes which had
occurred among the Malay Muslims in Thailand after the Central governments
secularization or modernization drive to transform the education system. This was the
establishment of co-operation among the various separatist groups whose publicly
stated aim was liberation of the Malay region from Thai rule. From the mid 1970s
these independent separatist groups began to coordinate their activities under one
umbrella organization : The Patani United Liberation Organization (PULO), which,
ideological differences notwithstanding, managed to gain the support of the
Communist Party of Thailand and Communist Party of Malaya, as the common goal
of the latters was National Liberation in the mid seventies.
It is clear from my overall discussion that in order to protect their ethnic
identity intact the Malay Muslims have always been in favour of retaining their
religion based educational system intact which was imparted in their own language
Jawai. So after the forceful implementation in the region of the Thai language based
education system by the Thai central government, Malay people started to protest
against government measures through a verity of peaceful ways. But when even these
peaceful protests were brutally suppressed by the Thai government, at least some
section of Malay youths began to veer towards jihad or total war against the central
government as the only way to regain their rights. With this end in view, from 1950
onwards various separatist outfits appeared on the scene in south Thailand. Some of
them like The Patani United Liberation Organization (PULO), and its breaking groups
namely NEW PULO, B.R.N., GMPR etc are still active today. From various news
paper and TV or radio reports it is clear that these secessionist organizations often
mounted attacks on government run educational institutions and their Buddhist
teachers deep in the South of Thailand, chiefly to flaunt their power and drive the

21
message that they were alive and kicking. On the other hand, to suppress these
insurgent movements against the government establishments the Thai central
government used its military power in those areas of South Thailand. Thai
government deployed military police with additional powers to arrest or keep people
in custody, just on the basis of suspicion, and even without any proper evidence. But
this brought about an anarchic situation in the region. It is also noticed that some
Islamic scholars like Dr Ismail Lutfi Japakiya, founder rector of Yala Islamic
University and a member of Thai parliament never supported the separatist ways of
protest to gain the Malay Muslims right in Thailand. In his view Islam always
instructs its followers to extend the hand of friendship and work together to make this
world a harmonious, peaceful place to live for all mankind regardless of religion. So
this feeling if nurtured, can well foster a perfect situation for cross cultural
understanding and reduce the possibility of conflict between Muslims and non
Muslims, not just within a nation but also among nation states.
As entire population was now caught in a dilemma. If they wished to
participate in the nations political process, they would have to be educated in the
Governments secular schools. On the other hand, if they accepted the new
educational system, they would end up undermining one of their most important
pillars of Malay Muslim ethnic and religious identity, namely, religious study in
Pondok through the Jawai language. So this dilemma has been resolved through a
more rational understanding of the Malay Muslim psyche, before further initiation of
new modernization measures by the Buddhist led Thai government. While conducting
my field work in Southern Thailand I noticed that like the Haji Solung, the southern
Thai Malay Muslim Scholars who returned home after completion of higher Islamic
studies in Saudi Arabi and Egypt and took up teaching jobs in the Pondoks of south
Thailand were also in favour of the introduction of modern subjects like mathematics
and science; but they wanted to teach their subjects within an overwhelming Islamic
structure. Thus it is easy to see that ethnic identity and ethos are very much a part of
Islamic education in southern Thailand and for that reason a conflict arose with the
Thai central government when the latter was trying to modernise the prevailing
Islamic education system in that area. It is clear to me that young people are not as
orthodox about their language as those of the older generation. As they have already
realized that if they do not accept the Thai language as their language of higher or
vocational studies, they will never become competent for any government job in
Thailand, they now learn Thai along with the Jwai language. For that reason if we
compare the percentage of attendance in government schools with that in the
Pondoks, we can see that the former has increased in recent years. On the basis of
2001data the national average is 7.3years of school attendance; while in Pattani it is
6.3 years, in Yala 6.9 years and in Narathiwat 5.9 years. 39 On the other hand the Thai
central government is trying to minimise the antipathy toards the state run schools by
introducing bilingual textbooks for the local students. The government is also trying
to increase the student teacher ratio in this area to enhance the quality of education. It
is also reflected in the UNDP(Thailand-2003) on the basis of 2000 data. That report
shows that the Narathiwat has a total of 136,027 students and 6030 teachers. This
yields a ratio of 23 students per teacher, with 29 students per class room. Pattani has
118673 students and 5268 teachers which yields 23 students per teacher and twenty
nine students per class room. Yala has a total of 91774 students and 4117 teachers and
thus a ratio of 22 students per teacher and 29 students per class room. But those
government school books are also not out of controversy . Some Tok Gurus showed
me a primary section book in vernacular language. They objected that the book gave

22
some examples with pictures not fit for their religion, picture of little Buddhist Monks
instead of any kind of example related to the local religion, culture of ethnicity.
Another example in furnished by middle class history book for the government
school, in which accepted eulogises the glorious time of Sukhothai period as part of
Thai history. But Malays are not easily reconciled to teach grand narratives of this
period like Thais as Pattani kingdom had lost its sovereignty to the Thais in that
period. So the southern Malay people want know more glorious past of the Pattani
kingdom than the Sukhothai. Alongside in Pondoks books on Pattani history are
written in Jawai language are different in the approach compare to the Thai history
books. They concentrate more on the glory of the Patani Sultanate than Siam and also
say that Patani was a never part of the kingdom of Siam. But from the Thai
government view point if they introduce Pattani history in history book instead of
Thai history, that might well rekindle the identity of otherness among the Malays
of South. This also helps to pave the way separatism and insurgency among the Malay
people.40
In my view the imprudent minority separatist movement never can bring their
cherished goal of autonomy without the co-operation with the Thai mainstream
Government. On the other hand use of power by the central Thai government never
will bring peace in that region and will also jeopardize the yearlong effort of
assimilation. In my opinion bilateral peaceful political solution is perhaps the only
final resort to solve the conflict between Thai Buddhist central government and the
Malay Muslim people of South Thailand to build a united Thailand.41

23

Uthai Dulyakasem, Education and Ethnic Nationalism: A Study of the Thai Muslim-Malay
in Southern Thailand, PhD. Dissertation, Stanford University, U.S.A., 1981., Pg-12
2
Ibid.(pg-06)
3
J.Anderson, English Intercourse with Siam in the Seventeenth Century, London, 1980, pg 22
4
R.Winzeler, The Social Organization of Islam in Kelanta, in William Roff edited,
Kelantan: Religion Society and politics in a Malay state, Kualalumpur, Oxford University
Press, 1974., Pg- 44
5
Wan Kadir Che Man, The Thai Government and Islamic in Four Southern Muslim
Provinces of Thailand Sojourn 5, no2(199o), Pg- 5
6
Ibid (page 7)
7
William R. Roff, The Origins of Malay Nationalism, Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur,
1994., Pg- 79
8
Ibid., Pg-102
9
Surin Pitsuwan, Islam and Malay Nationalism: A case study of the Malay-Muslims of
SouthernThailand, Thai Khadi Research Institute, Thamasat University, Thailand, 1985, Pg15
10
Ibid., pg- 19
11
Hasan Madmarn, The Pondok and Madrasah in Pattani, Bangi: Penerbit University
Kebangsaan, Malaysia, 1999., pg-15
12
Ibid.(pg -17)
13
Ibid(pg 19)
14
Ibid.(pg-20)
15
Ibid(pg-22)
16
National Education Plan 1932
17
National Education Plan 1936
18
Ibid
. Report of Khun Chanyawithan 1937 (page 74 79)
Haemindra.N, The problem of the Thai Muslims in the four Southern Provinces of
Thailand(part-1 & 11),Journal of South East Asian Studies,vol 11& 111,No 2, September,
1976 and No -1 March 1977.
21
See the History chapter.
19
20

22

ibid
Ibid.
24
Greetz.C.,The Javanese Kijaji: The Changing Role of Cultural Broker, in Comparative
Studies of Society and History, No 2, January 1960.
25
Special Education Section Report 1981.
26
Provincial education committe report. February 22,1972.
27
ibid
28
Report on Private School for Islamic Education, 1981, (Table 10)
29
McVey. R.,Language,Religion and National Identity in Southern Thailand,in The Politics
of Separatism,Collective Seminar Papers No .19, University of London, Institute of
Commonwealth Studies, 1976. P(94-99)
30
Ibid(pg-104)
31
Ibid(pg - 122)
32 Giles Ji Ungpakorn, Thailands Crisis and the
Fight for Democracy.
33
ibid
23

24

34

Griling.J.,Thailand Society and Politics,Cornell University Press, Ithaca,USA,1981., pg29

35
Journal of Muslim World League, April 1981:47.
36
Charles.F.keyes, Thailand: Buddhists Kingdom as Modern Nation State, Boulder and
London: Westview Press,1987, p-131
37
Hassan Madmarn, The Pondok and Changes in South Thailand,in Aspect of Development,
Bangi: Penerbit University Kebangsaan, Malaysia, 1999.Edited by Scupin, pg -65
38
Classified Documents, Parliamentary Special Committee 1979:18
39
United Nations Development Programme report (Thailand,2003)
40
Ibid (pg -109)